Indicted just over a week ago on a perjury charge, Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price plans to move forward with selecting a new police chief, even if he has to abandon his plans to involve an outside search firm.

Ellis Lucia / The Times-PicayuneMandeville Mayor Eddie Price has been indicted on one charge of perjury, and is under state and federal investigation for alleged financial improprieties.

That puts him at odds with City Councilwoman At-Large Trilby Lenfant, who would prefer that Capt. Ron Ruple remain interim head of the city's troubled police department until the mayor's legal issues are resolved.

Price cannot hire the search firm unless the five-member City Council appropriates the money. If Lenfant can convince two of her colleagues to side with her, he would have to either delay his search or proceed on his own.

In addition to the state attorney general's charge that he lied on the stand during the trial of a wealthy businessman, Price is under state and federal investigation for alleged financial improprieties, including misuse of city credit cards and accepting free vacations from companies that do business with the city.

At the same time, the Mandeville Police Department is reeling from a string of morale-sapping incidents and by all accounts could benefit from the stability of a permanent leader.

A police sergeant, David Hurstell, was indicted with Price for allegedly lying in the same trial. Hurstell has been moved from patrol duties to administrative work.

"We have to decide whether or not it would be prudent, and I believe it would be prudent, to maintain the status quo and hold off on selecting a police chief until the current issues regarding the mayor are resolved, " Lenfant said. "The issues that the mayor is facing could affect the pool of candidates and the ability of the city to attract the best candidates for the job."

Price had previously agreed to hire an outside agency to review applications and create a short list of candidates. He said in an e-mail that he still hopes to go that route, but the council has not put the item on its meeting agenda as he has requested.

About 15 people have already submitted applications for the job, which has been open since longtime chief Tom Buell was forced into early retirement at the end of last year after his misuse of a Christmas toy charity.

"I can certainly let our HR department handle the process and feel very comfortable in doing so. However, that certainly wasn't the game plan, " Price said of selecting the new police chief. "If the issue does not appear on the next agenda, I will move forward in-house."

The International Association of Chiefs of Police gave a cost estimate of $26,000 to conduct a search, and Police Management Consultants submitted a $13,000 proposal, Lenfant said. Both agencies told city officials they were willing to undertake a smaller scope of work for a lesser fee.

"I was the one who asked for it, and my motive was to make sure no politics was involved, " Lenfant said of hiring an outside firm.

But Lenfant wants to put the brakes on the search process until Price is either cleared or found guilty -- a process that could take several years. She acknowledged that the council cannot prevent the mayor from conducting his own search without outside help.

Councilman Jerry Coogan questions the necessity of paying for a search firm, particularly when the city's sales tax revenue has fallen. He believes the mayor should continue with the process on his own, at least initially.

Under the process Price originally described, the list of candidates selected by the search firm would be forwarded to a locally appointed review board, which would select three finalists. The mayor would make the appointment from among those three finalists, and the City Council would have to approve the choice.

House Bill 402, signed into law by the governor last month, reaffirms the mayor's power to appoint the police chief, subject to confirmation by the City Council. The bill also removes the police chief from the municipal civil service system.

"You don't have to pull the trigger on the expense of hiring an outside firm until you look at the applicants for the position, " Coogan said. "After reviewing the first applicants, if you feel you're not getting the level or caliber, you can always go back and hire an outside firm."

Councilman Jeff Bernard agrees with Coogan and the mayor that the selection process should continue despite the indictment. He said he is open to the idea of a search firm but wants to evaluate the cost.

However long it takes the new police chief to be appointed, he or she will inherit the job of repairing a department fractured by internal strife.

One of the first public signs of trouble came in January 2008 at the same trial that resulted in the perjury indictments of Price and Hurstell.

On the stand, Price said he never asked police officers to drop felony charges against former SpeeDee Oil Change owner Gary Copp and issue a misdemeanor summons instead. The perjury charge hinges on what Price asked police officers to do for Copp -- reduce the charges against him or merely do him a procedural favor.

Price later admitted in an interview with The Times-Picayune that he did call the police station. The distinction, he said, was that he merely asked for Copp to receive a summons rather than be arrested.

Hurstell testified at the trial that he did not recall speaking on the phone with the mayor on the night that Copp stomped on a woman's head with his cowboy boot, inflicting permanent brain damage.

Outside the grand jury room on Aug. 13, the divisions within the Mandeville Police Department were graphically clear, as one group of officers prepared to testify against Hurstell and another arrived to support Hurstell.

Hurstell's indictment was the culmination of tensions that began several years ago, when Buell began using money from the toy charity to buy gift cards for city employees. Some police officers accepted the cards, while others condemned the practice. Price was among the gift card recipients and also received a hunting bow and a gun cabinet partially paid for using the charity.

At one point, Price considering disbanding the department and hiring the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office instead. An outside review of the department commissioned by a watchdog group, the Metropolitan Crime Commission, found "glaring deficiencies in leadership" as Buell's tenure neared a close.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced that in 2006, Price was stopped by Mandeville police officers who spotted him driving erratically and gave him a ride back to City Hall even though they suspected him of being drunk. One officer later said he feared for his job if he did otherwise.

After his indictment on a single perjury charge, Hurstell was reassigned from patrol duties to a supervisory desk job.

Sgt. Gerald Sticker, who had been doing the desk job, will take Hurstell's place as a patrol sergeant.

Ruple, who was among the officers who testified before the grand jury, acknowledged that his department is going through a difficult time. He is sending a letter to employees explaining the reassignments and encouraging them to maintain their professionalism. Personal opinions have no place in the police station while the court case runs its course, Ruple's letter says.

"We've been going through a lot for two years or more, " Ruple said. "This is one more thing we have to get through."

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Cindy Chang can be reached at cchang@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4816.